Office 2003 MSFilter.dot error

[Mangrum]

When I try to open a document, a message pops up:
The document 'MSFilter.dot' caused a serious error the
last time it was opened. You may continue opening it or
perform data recovery by clicking 'Recover Data'.
Clicking 'Recover Data' will extract text out of your
document but all formatting and pictures will be lost.
<Buttons: Open, Recover Data, Cancel>

If I click Cancel, I get the following MS Office Word
message:
Word cannot open this document template. (C:\Program
Files\...\MSFilter.dot)
<OK button>

If I click Open, I get the send error report message.
Then I get the following MS Office Word message:
Word experience a serious error the last time the add-
in 'c:\programfiles\microsoft office\office11
\startup\msfilter.dot' was opened. Would you like to
disable this add-in?
To reactivate this add-in, click About Microsoft Office
Word on the Help menu, and then click Disabled Items.
<Requires yes or no response.Cannot close the message
without choosing y/n>

Please advise.What is causing this error, and what can i
do about it.
Thanks.

 

[garfield-n-odie]

The cause is probably a corrupted MSFilter.dot template. Try renaming
MSFilter.dot to MSFilter.old (this file is probably in C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\Startup). Does Word start normally
after that? For more ideas on what to do, see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm.